More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message!The next chapter of the story God is writing in you and through you is primarily about building people, rebuilding marriage and families, and neighborhoods . It's all about rebuilding hearts. When it comes to church, facilities are tools. Programs and ministries are tools and it's good to have tools. But ultimately we have to ask the question, "How are we doing at building people, building Jesus-apprentices who live and love and lead like Jesus?"We are God's greatest building project. Make no mistake we're still under construction, but people are God's great treasure!

Send me a Text Message!There is work to be done and sometimes a battle (spiritual) to be fought. What should we do? Rush to the battle and God will fight for you. Listen if God is theauthor of my story, then trouble is not the story of my life. And here is the truth that goes beyond my story. God is not only the author of your story, He's the hero!I have heard it said that we should pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on us. But I find that when I'm working like it depends on me, I rarely pray like it depends on God. Perhaps we also need to figure out what it looks like to work, like it depends on God? 

Send me a Text Message!In Nehemiah 4,  the people are half-way home, the wall is half-way rebuilt. But how many of us know that half-way home is sometimes the hardest place to be. Because half-way home, means we still have just as far to go as we've already gone. And if we aren't careful, we can begin to lose heart.Sometimes if we don't want to lose heart, we need to forget the rubble and remember God. I mean nobody wants to lose heart. We want to be renewed. We want to be strong, filled with hope. We know our stories have hard chapters, but we don't wan to lose heart. This episode will begin to talk about how we go through the hard times without losing heart!Don't lose heart!

Send me a Text Message!So if you didn't listen to my message from this weekend at Calvary, even if you usually take Monday off because it's not part of the normal episode, let me encourage you to listen. If you did listen, maybe this is a good one to hear twice. Not just for you, I'm going to listen to this one again. And I'll be praying,"Lord would you do it again!"

Send me a Text Message!There are two groups who didn't share in the story God was writing through the leadership of Nehemiah. The Nobles of Tekoa wouldn't put their shoulders to the work and the rulers of the region didn't want to give up control. The political leaders wanted power and the Nobles of Tekoa wanted comfort. Comfort and Control. I see this time and time again. Far too often, the church for which Jesus died, opts for comfort and control. The comfort of religious freedom has become more important to us than surrendering to spiritual faithfulness.  We don't need religious freedom to be spiritually faithful.The complete surrender of our lives is not radical Christianity, it's the base-line minimum.  When I look at Nehemiah 2 & 3, when I read the unfinished story that God is writing, it becomes painfully clear, that while God loves to use the broken and those in the margins of life, if we will not abandon comfort and surrender control, we'll miss His story.Which is a shame, because you are invited...into His story!

Send me a Text Message!Your story isn't finished. You need a team. But if you're not dead, God's not done. He has a team for you and a team with you. And listen to me, make no mistake, there will be times when the life you want more than anything will be outside of your hands. Your story will not be written without some twists and turns and even a few seemingly dead-end moments. Our journey will not be finished without walking through the rubble of brokenness. In fact, you will face times so difficult, that you can't do it alone. But if you're not dead then He's not done and if he's not done, your story has a team. And God is writing a good, good, really good story! He's inviting you to be part of that story.

Send me a Text Message!When God gives us a mission, the call to sacrifice is not far behind. Feeling bad will not save the day. It requires action, sacrifice, even risk. A good idea isn't good enough, it requires good work. Has anyone ever asked you the question, "If youknew you couldn't fail, what would you try to accomplish for God?" Perhaps a better question is, "What do you care about so deeply, that even if you are bound to fail, you would still have to try?"Here's the deal. If you take on a mission like that...you can't do it alone!

Send me a Text Message!Your story is unfinished AND...your story has a team. You are not alone. It may feel that way, but it's not true. Your story has a team. Sometimes we know the people on the team and sometimes we don't. Some of them are people you never met, maybe even long gone, an author, a Biblical mentor, an inspiring example from history. Some of them were on your team for a moment, some joined your team before you were born, and some teammates haven't even been born yet, but yourstory has a team. Some you work with hand in hand, some were family and some became family. They encourage you or pray for you or speak hard truths straight to your heart. They might be people who care about your cause. You work together, play together, pray together and grow together. You seek God together.  In fact this week, begin to make a list that answers the question, "Who is on my team?"

Send me a Text Message!The unmet longings of your heart are not a flaw, they are a gps for your soul. If you let them, they will keep redirecting  your heart to God. But this is what amazes me, "you have captivated God's heart." And before Lynn and I talk about the longings of your heart, I just wanted that thought to be in your mind, God loves being with you. And with that thought in mind, let me give you this prayer of longing. David writes this prayer in Psalm 63:1-8. David writes, he prays..."God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you...I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I cling to you."This episode is the Mother's Day message from Lynn and I this last weekend! Hope you enjoy!

Send me a Text Message!Listen, when it comes to the story God is writing in your life, your story has a team. We need each other. No one rebuilds alone. Walking through the rubble and brokenness of life alone, leads to discouragement. If we want to rebuild broken places, renew hope, and revive people, we need a team. In fact courageous leaders understand that God gives us projects to develop people. So share your life. Share the work. You need a team of people committed to growing together and sharing life together!As a leader, Nehemiah accomplished great deeds. But his story had a team. He made a difference because he got connected. If you aren't connected, you are missing out on the heart of God's story. Your story has a team!

Send me a Text Message!If our story is hard, is God still in it? That's the question I ask and answer, more than once, in this episode. Throughout Nehemiah's story, the opposition grows. From death threats to picket lines to deception and betrayal, Nehemiah's story gets hard. So what we find is that just because God is writing the story doesn't mean there isn't groaning with the glory. So don't be surprised by opposition to the story God is writing in your life. One of the great mistakes we make, comes when we believe that as long as we know what God wants us to do, the rest is easy. If your story is hard, God is still in it!

Send me a Text Message!I don't know what's ahead of us, here at Calvary, or ahead of you wherever you live. I wish I did.  I wish I could tell you what God's going to do in your region and how He's going to do it. But I can't. All I can do is tell you I believe that globally He's doing something deep and profound. He's preparing us for His gracious hand. For years, people around State College (where I live) have dreamed, some have even prophesied about Beaver Stadium (home of Penn State football) being filled with God's people. 100,000 people. In the past, I thought it was unlikely at best, impossible at  worst. But for the last seven years, every time that stadium comes to my mind, I sense Jesus say, "ask me for more." So I'm asking him for more. And in this episode I hope to encourage you to do the same. Ask Him for more!

Send me a Text Message!In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah makes this statement, "God's gracious hand was upon me." In other words, Nehemiah is saying, "This story was written by the hand of God. It wasn't my strategy, leadership or plan. It wasn't my resources, no it was the gracious hand of God." Isn't that the story we want written in our lives?  I don't know how God works with you, but often as I'm reading the Bible, whether it's my own time with God, or study time for a teaching, there will be a single line or thought that sticks with me.  Nehemiah's words here have stuck with me for well over a decade. They have become one of my most frequent prayers...God we need your gracious hand upon us. 

Send me a Text Message!If you have been following me for a bit, you know that the last few months, I've loaded my weekend message from Calvary on Monday's. Gives me a bit of a break and sometimes, it has fit right in with the current MTB podcast series.While this weekend's message, (and thus this episode) has absolutely no mention of Haggai or Nehemiah, I do talk about temples and sacred places. It's the concluding message in our "Homecoming" series that started in Palm Sunday, and it has a bit of a twist in the story. Instead of God welcoming us home...it's a challenge for us to welcome God home!Oh and for those who weren't able to be with us...it was an amazing Sunday. We baptized 14 people, prayed for college students, and worshipped our amazing Jesus! A good, good day!

Send me a Text Message!In the midst of all the rubble, all the pain, all the conflict, all the brokenness in our world, I am reminded of this. I am reminded that God is our Unwavering Certainty in the midst of uncertainty. He is our Loving Father who covers us in his love when we are prone to fear. He's our Overflowing Spirit when scarcity whispers, protectwhat is yours. He is our Sacrificial Savior when we are not sure what love does. He is our Almighty King, our Redeemer and in the end, when we see Him, what was lost will be found and what was broken will made whole. Glory is coming and I am filled with hope. If you need a breakthrough, that's not a bad place to start!

Send me a Text Message!Are we owning our rubble? That's the question that will end this episode. Remember the BLESS acronymn that gives us some rebuilding, story-writing, principles? B is for "Be Still." L is "Look for the rubble." Nehemiah allows his heart to be saturated by the brokenness of people and causes. He looked for the rubble. But he didn't just look for it. He owned it. And owning it led to a turn of the page. We live a culture that has a hard time seeing our own rubble. We can see it in others, the other side, the other team, the other person. But when I see it in me, when I own it, that leads to breakthrough.So are you owning your rubble?

Send me a Text Message!You won't find much written on travailing prayer today. If you want to read about travailing prayer you have to read old books, and listen to old sermons, sermons and books birthed in revival. And yet, the Bible's pages are filled with examples of people who wrestled with God, travailed, groaned and cried out in prayer to see God's purposes birthed in their lives and the lives of broken people around them. Nehemiah wept. He mourned and fasted and prayed because of the brokenness around him. Not just broken walls, but broken lives. Because of broken lives, Nehemiah prayed with a broken heart. I don't believe we will find our breakthrough if we aren't willing to allow the brokenness that leads to travailing prayer. So Nehemiah's question of us is, "What wrecks my heart and stirs my passion? And have I ever allowed that brokenness to lead me to travailing prayer?

Send me a Text Message!In this episode, I'll start with a question for you to ask yourself, "When I look around at a broken world, what grabs my heart? What is broken in the world, or who is broken in the world, that breaks my heart?" Another way to ask that question is, "What is my holy discontent?" Sometimes, some of us...myself  included...we want to medicate our hearts so that we don't feel the pain of a broken world. We put walls around our hearts. What we need are hearts without walls that reveal the heart of God to a world in need of love. At Calvary we say that we want to be living proof of a loving God! Perhaps that starts by asking the question, "What is my holy discontent?"

Send me a Text Message!Over and over again, through the years, I've prayed Tozer's prayer, "Lord make me a person to whom you can entrust your glory." But Nehemiah is a reminder that we probably won't see His glory without some of groaning on our part. Awhile back, while pondering where I see God's hand in my life, I felt like He said, "Dan I can't trust you with my glory, if I can't trust you with my cross." I won't let you see me in the glory if you can't see my hand in the cross, in your weakness, in your groaning and suffering, in your story. If your life isn't finished, your story isn't over...but we won't find the glory without going through some mess. So is there glory in your story?

Send me a Text Message!Vance Havner, a preacher and revivalist born in 1901 once wrote these words,"The early Christians did not need a shot in the arm every Sunday to keep them going. They knew Jesus and they upset the world and worried the devil and gave wicked rulers insomnia and started something that jails couldn't lock up, fire couldn't burn, water couldn't drown, and swords couldn't kill. This world has never been moved by cold, calculating brass hats but by fools, with their facts on fire. We are suffering not from a lack of correct heads, but of consumed hearts."125 years later, perhaps we need more consumed hearts? If so, join me in praying, "God stir up our spirits!"

Send me a Text Message!Your story is unfinished. Sometimes we look at certain chapters of our life and we think, "That's the story of my life. We usually say those words in the midst of hard times. Sometimes we say them in despair and discouragement as we look at the broken rubble all around us. "That's the story of my life." But it's not.  If you are a Christ-follower, you have the very spirit of God in you. You are a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven with full access to the God who is  your Father. You're not just a citizen, you're family. If your life isn't over, your story isn't finished. Maybe the opportunity is gone, the dream is done, but your life is not. The story God is writing is unfinished. Sometimes the difference between a sad ending and the next chapter is nothing more than the turn of a page. 

Send me a Text Message!You are sent to love people all the way to Jesus. It's not enough to be like Jesus, and love like Jesus, on the Jesus Way we are sent to love others all the way to Jesus. That's our purpose. That's our "why." What if the most critical issue facing Chistians today is that we don't know what counts, so we settle for a lesser life.  And in the process, we lose the wide-eyed wonder and awe of the radical Good News that we have as our Father God, an unstoppable force, a Dream-Releaser of "beyond imagination" power.  That we have in Jesus a, passionate Savior and Leader, who was willing to die to see God's story written in our lives. That we haveopen access to the very Spirit of the Living, Creator God.  When we forget what counts, we forget that we are sent to love others all the way to Jesus. That's our "why," our purpose!

Send me a Text Message!As we come to the end, I'll go back to the beginning to summarize. John 1. Jesus is the Word. Don't miss this, the connection between Jesus and the Word. It's a connection that goes beyond metaphor into the land of mystical.  It goes beyond symbolic into the land of supernatural.  There is a connection between Jesus, who is called the Word, and the Word which we call our Bible. It's almost like God  speaks and every time he opens his mouth, Jesus comes out. We can't love Jesus, if we don't love the Word.

Send me a Text Message!This episode is another weekend message from Calvary as we continue on our "Homecoming" series. It just so happens to hit John 21. Yes if you have listened to all of the episodes on John 21. You will remember that story. But it's one of my favorites, a powerful story of redemption that led to Peter living life with an amazing sense of purpose. If you weren't with us at Calvary, I hope it gives you a great concluding look at John 21. In many ways, this is one of the most amazing things that Jesus did after his resurrection. He made breakfast on a beach for his friends.After this episode, I'll do a summary episode or two on the gospel of John and then it's on to the Old Testament book of Nehemiah! Enjoy!AND if you want to join us packing 300,000 meals for refugees, go to packhopepa.com and sign up!

Send me a Text Message!I know you are probably getting a bit tired of this story in John 21. Almost done. :) But in this episode, I want to challenge you to enter the story. I want to challenge you to live your life in such a way that it attracts people to the fire of God within you. And then to let your fire burn in your communities through prayer with great dreams of what God could do, if we follow Jesus. To let that fire transform your marriage, the place you work, the churches you serve. To let that fire lead you to love and serve people with living proof of a loving God. I want to challenge us to be people who will passionately stand for God and set our hearts to be the real-deal for Jesus. In this episode, I'll give us three starting points, three kindling points for a burning heart on the Jesus Way!

Send me a Text Message! At Calvary we have a vision/mission to "build a church without walls." It's a CWOW vision. Part of our description of that puts it this way, "Envision a community so passionate about Jesus Christ and the glory of God that God doesn't just visit their community, He pitches His tent." And that's where it starts, such a passion for  Jesus and the glory of God that God doesn't just visit our community, He pitches a tent. He settles in for the long haul. It starts in an on-going encounterwith Jesus that leads to an overwhelming sense of the presence of God.And it requires a passion revolution in our hearts. God we need a passion revolution for the things that really matter!

Send me a Text Message!What I hope you will get every time you come to "More than Bread" is something more than bread. With all my heart I believe God wants to speak to you through this time. And then if you have been with me for a bit, you know that it's not enough to listen to His Words, we need to learn from them, and it's not enough to just learn from them, we need to lean into them, we need to put them into practice, we need to do what it says. So I encourage you every time you listen take something away, think through an “I will..." statement. As a result of this time, "I will – fill in the blank."And in this episode I hope your "I will" statement involves thinking through in some tangible how much you love Jesus.

Send me a Text Message!Every Good Friday at Calvary we have an immersive experience that we call the Way of the Cross. It's all about the the passion of Jesus. In the cross that passion is not just an overwhelming, emotional or even sexual desire. That's too often how we think about it. We think of lovers, physical attraction, desires so intense they give birth to physical manifestations. Our knees get weak, skin tingles, and our guts heave.But the passion of Jesus was not just an overwhelming desire. It was a courageous love willing to sacrifice. It was a fire in the gut, that could not be quenched. It was a burning heart of compassion for people and to embrace a cause that matters?So what's your passion?  

Send me a Text Message!I know Luke isn't John, but Jesus is still Jesus and Luke 15 contains one of Jesus'  most well-known stories. We're living with homesick hearts. We can't quite shake this  sense that something's missing. But when Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning, He was flinging open the door to the home we couldn't find. Easter isn't just about Jesus coming back to life it's about us coming back home.I think that's part of the reason why this story is such a priceless treasure. It's Jesus' most well-known story. Charles Dickens called it the greatest story ever told. It captures the essence of our faith and reveals the heart of the Bible. It's a personal  invitation to be seen, known and loved in the father's home. The Jesus-Way leads home!

Send me a Text Message!I think so often, when am I wrestling with doubt, I start asking for a sign. Have you ever done that? John said that he recorded a series of signs in his gospel, so that we would believe. Seven signs were given so that we would believe. But it's important to realize that a sign, even if we're given a sign, the sign gives direction, but it's not the destination. In fact, once you reach the destination, there is no longer any need for signs. Sign or not, the destination is Jesus. The signs are given so that we would believe. Are you looking for a sign?

Send me a Text Message!As we are coming to the end of John's gospel, we are coming back to the beginning of the Jesus Way. What is the beginning of the Jesus Way? It all starts with faith, believing, trusting Jesus. But sometimes believing is hard. Over and over again, the writers of scripture, Jesus himself over and over again connects an uncommonly good life, a life uncommon in both it's quanity and quality; he connects that kind of life with faith, with believing.It seems like it should be an easy thing, it's so easy even a child can do it. In fact we often hold that up as the standard, a child-like faith. But then we grow up. andsometimes this quest for faith seems so difficult. Sometimes believing ain't easy!

Send me a Text Message!At a Leadership Summit, a few years ago, Angela Duckworth laid out her research that suggests that every successful person, every person who makes a true impact on the world, has one unique charecteristic. She called it grit. And she defined grit as the child of passion and persistance. Persistance and passion together equals grit. So let me ask you, "Are you passionately persistant in prayer?" Or am I distracted, living with the illusion that I am a great multi-tasker, while my prayer have neither passion nor persistance.So that's the question for this episode. Are you a gritty pray-er?  

Send me a Text Message!In this episode we are going to hear the words from Jesus, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." With all my heart I believe that that message was not just made for a handful of people who saw the risen Jesus, it's for each of us. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus is sending us. Think of all that entailed, all that was involved in Jesus' sending.What if in the same way, for the same purpose, Jesus has sent you? Coming out of the Easter season, coming at the end of the gospel of John, there's an awful lot to that simple statement. What if He sent you?

Send me a Text Message!We think of tombs as endings, final pages of the story. But for God every tomb is a transition. Think of the amazing global transition that started in Jesus' tomb. God reset the world and life will never be the same. What if the Easter tombstone is really your stepping stone?  You know what a stepping stone is right? A stepping stone is something we need to go to a place we could never reach on our own. What if the trouble you're facing; the doubt, the darkness, the difficulty; what if the tomb is not your final resting place, it's the porch you have to walk across to go home. What if it's not a locked door, it's the key. What if your tombstone is actually a stepping stone to something so good, you can barely imagine it?

Send me a Text Message!I am recording this episode for Good Friday. That first Holy Week Friday, the one before the first Easter, no one would have called it Good Friday. Traumatic Friday. End-of-Hope Friday. Last Friday. Dark Difficult Deadly Friday. It's only looking back that we call it good. I'm going to do something a little bit different in this episode. Mostly, I'm just going to read the story. The gospel of John has 21 chapters, 2 of them, about 10% of the biography of Jesus is focused on that day. Friday. So I'm mostly going to read the story. And spend a few moments pondering how it was such a dark, difficult and yet in the end, a very good Friday! 

Send me a Text Message!Yes it appears to be a bit of a regression from John 17 back to John 13. But think of it as a recap to our look at John 14-17. John 13 is where it all started. The Lord's supper, last supper before the cross. If you listen to these as they drop, today is Thursday of Holy Week, the day that Jesus started the tradition of what we now call communion. And as we revisit that table meal, we are reminded that we follow a King whose crown is a towel. AND serving is His Way to blessing!

Send me a Text Message!Few prayers have driven and shaped my heart and my ministry like this prayer; Jesus' prayer.  And you know he prayed it with great fervency in the last hours of his life. It is his prayer for us, that we would be one, that we would be one, just like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. He prays that we would live in such a compelling community that everyone wants to be part of it. But it's not easy, right? None of us are perfect, all of us are flawed and we bring those flaws into our relationships. So how do we live in this kind of community?Here's what Jesus said, "I have given them my glory, so that they can be one." So I guess we need to ask the question, "Is his glory enough?"

Send me a Text Message!There is a prayer in John 17, a prayer between Jesus and his Father, just before Jesus goes to the cross. At the heart of that prayer is a simple request, "Father make them one. All those who will believe in me, make them one." Honestly I find myself grieved by how easily we minimize the unity at heart of his dream. He's praying that we would form a glory-saturated community that would reveal Jesus to the world around us. And in fact, I will suggest that Jesus greatest prayer also reveals the great dream of his heart, a dream that continues to this day, "that we would be known by the quantity and quality of our love for each other. Jesus greatest dream became his greatest prayer. Sometimes it seems like Jesus-dream is little more than a  pipedream. But if we love him, if we truly value the price of the cross, if we not only proclaim it but actually consider ourselves to be his followers, shouldn't hisdream, be our dream? Shouldn't his prayer, be our prayer?

Send me a Text Message!We are starting a new series at Calvary called "Homecoming" and I'll be putting them on each Monday. This episode is on the Palm Sunday story. It gives us a look at this reality. Often when Jesus comes into a city, a neighborhood, a school, he comes in with tears in his eyes and a fire in his heart. He comes in with tears in his eyes for those who are missing their encounter with him, and a fire in his heart for those who let it happen.Which one do you need to see? The tears in his eyes, or the fire in his heart?

Send me a Text Message!What are you filled with?  What fills your life, right now?  We can be filled with a lot of stuff, good and bad. What are you filled with today? In John 14-17, Jesus begins to talk about the Spirit of God. If you remember back in John 7, he talked about the Spirit of God so filling us up that rivers of living water flow out of our souls! It's an uncommon call to be filled with the Spirit.  We may not exactly be sure what it means. But we do know what it's like to be filled with something. If someone says they are filled with grief, or filled with fear, or despair or anger or ambition or joy, or filled with love. We know what that's like.  We know that what we are filled with dominates our thoughts, dictates our actions, perhaps even describes who we are. So what fills you up?

Send me a Text Message!John 14-16 is an amazing piece of scripture. Jesus is sharing his last thoughts before he dies on a cross, and changes the story of the world. It's his locker-room talk before his team goes out to play the most important game of their lives. And he is talking to them about life, about what they need to thrive in the hard times to come. In the space of a few minutes, he will use the word "remain" at least 8 times. That's the word that I want us to hang onto. "Remain" or some of your translations say "abide." The greek word translated remain can mean to take a stand against difficult circumstances, but it was also used to refer to close personal relationships. So maybe the sense of the word is to stick close even when it's difficult.  When trouble comes, stick close to Jesus. When it's hard to hope, stick close to Jesus. When you want your life to make a difference, stick close to Jesus!

Send me a Text Message!As you know I'm kind of stuck in John 14-17. Which isn't a bad thing at all, if you took my advice and have been reading those four chapters every day, maybe even multiple times a day. So in the last episode, I ended with this thought. I didn't develop it much, but I threw it out there at the end, the thought was simply this, "If hope is contagious, love is how it spreads." If hope is contagious, love is how it spreads, so if we want to spread hope, we might need a love breakthrough!In this episode, we'll touch a bit more on the relationships that Jesus touches on in John 14-17. Each relationship is a place where we can pray for breakthrough!

Send me a Text Message!Remember in a recent episode, talking about prayer, I said that while helplessness is a great initiator of prayer, helplessness is not enough. We need hopefulness to sustain prayer. But when our helplessness meets His hopefulness, something pretty amazing can happen. So I want to talk a bit again about that hopefulness. And here is the statement that I'm going to make... Hope is contagious!I'm praying that contagious hope fills every heart that listens to this episode!

Send me a Text Message!What is peace? In our culture today, we typically define peace in terms of absence. It's the absence of noise, the absence of storms, the absence of conflict and anxiety. But when Jesus spoke of peace, he used the Hebrew word, shalom. Shalom is fullness and wholeness, not absence. Shalom is well-being in the widest sense of the word. It's the blessing of God which sums up all other blessings. Shalom is more about fullness than emptiness, more about presence than  absence. Shalom is the wholeness of heart that comes from a fullness of God.Are you seeking peace?

Send me a Text Message!Expectancy is a tenacious hope that never stops believing that the best is yet to come. In this episode we will hear Jesus tie together expectancy, child-birth, and travailing prayer. Travailing prayer is the painful work of giving birth to something new. The Bible seems to speak little of casual prayer. It's pages are filled with examples of people who wrestled with God, travailed, groaned and cried out in prayer to see God's purposes birthed in their lives and the world around them.So I have to ask you, the same questions, I ask myself. Who are the people in our day who will pray like this? Where are the next gen students who will travail in prayer until God births something new in their school? Where are the neighbors who will let expectancy saturate their trouble so that they cannot help but travail in prayer? Where are the employees who will push in prayer till God births smthng new in their company? Where are the travailing mothers and fathers, the grandmas and grandpas, who will not let God rest till the Spirit gives birth to a new season in their family? It's time to travail...

Send me a Text Message!It would probably be a good thing for you to read on your own all of John 14-17 multiple times as you listen to the next 5-6 episodes. These four chapters are Jesus last words before he gives his life for a world in trouble. So imagine this, you're with Jesus, sitting by a fire in a cabin, or talking a walk in the afternoon. You're walking through a vineyard and you don't know it but Jesus is sharing his last words before he dies on a cross. Most scholars call these four chapters, Jesus "Farewell Discourse." I think it's anything but his farewell discourse. These are not last words, they are beginning words; summation words maybe, transition words definitely, but not last words.This is Jesus locker-room challenge before you go out and play the most important game of your life. This is your favorite teacher at commencement looking you in the eye and saying, "You got this." It's your OBGYN doctor, saying, "push, it's time to push. I know it hurts, but something good is coming."I hope these next few episodes covering John 14-17, truly encourage you!

Send me a Text Message!In our culture today, Christians are known by and known for a handful of things, to be honest to many of those things are not good things. We are known for our politics. We are known for our moral stands on issues that matter to us. But are we known for the way we love each other? What are we known for?

Send me a Text Message!It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  He knew that all power had been given to Him, so he decided to show his disciples the full extent of his love, show them that he loved them to the very end.  Just stop for a moment and think about that. He is about to show his followers, the full extent of his love.  What is the full extent of your love?  How far does your love go? Jesus...is about to show his followers the full extent, the full measure, he's going all the way, holding nothing back; the  heights and depths of the love of Jesus is about to go center stage.  What do you suppose the full extent of Jesus' love looks like? That's what we find in John 13.    Jesus...is about to show his followers the full extent, the   full measure, he's going all the way, holding nothing   back...the heights and depths of the love of Jesus is

Send me a Text Message!We've been settling for the false finish lines of comfort and control. We've been settling for false finish lines of politics and the economy. I have no faith in politics to bring us glory. That's not our finish line. In fact, filling up church buildings on a Sunday morning is a false finish line.  But I have found over and over again, that it's difficult, if not impossible to lean into new things without being done with the old things. So my question is  Are we done with the old things?  Are we ready to run to the true goal, the finish line of Christ?I long to see the church shine bright like a city on a hill. I long for us to be known as the hands & heart of Christ. I still believe that the church that Jesus is building is the hope of the world. I want to be part of that church. But to be that church some old things need to die and get planted. What in you needs to die and get planted?   praying for that church to be done with old things. What if God wants to do a new thing in our day, but he's just waiting for us to give up some old things?

Send me a Text Message!John 12 is all about love-bursts. Mary had a love-burst, heart full for Jesus. We introduced that in the last episode. She left the table,...and got a small bottle out of her basket. It was full of a very valuable fragrant oil, worth a year's wages. What would that be for you? Put your number on it. Imagine pouring that out. She walks over to Jesus and uncorks the bottle. By now she has everyone's attention, they know what it is. She pours it out. Over his head and shoulders, his feet. And then she wipes off his feet with her hair. This was the crazy generosity of a love-burst. The disciples thought it was too much. When is the last time you were crazy generous like that? The crazy generosity of a love-burst!

Send me a Text Message!John 12 starts on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Jesus is at Lazarus' house. Yep same Lazarus that was recently dead, now living life large. Jesus is there and I'm telling you everyone wants to see Jesus, everyone wants to be on team Jesus. The crowds are going hard after Jesus. The next day is Palm Sunday, the processional of King Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowds continue to grow. But at the heart of the Saturday before Palm Sunday is the love-burst of Mary...for Jesus. For 2000+ years this story has been told. It's how Mary is remembered? It makes me wonder how I will be remembered. Have you ever had a love-burst?